Putting · Putter
What is Cameron Smith's swing tempo?
Cameron Smith's 2022 The Open Championship putter is a 0.52s backswing into a 0.25s downswing — a 2.05:1 tempo ratio over 0.78s from takeaway to impact. That is quicker through the backswing than the 3:1 ratio usually quoted for tour players. Timed by hand from tournament footage to 1/100 of a second.
0.52s
Backswing
0.25s
Downswing
0.78s
Total duration
2.05:1
Tempo ratio
The three marks
Every number above comes from these, and nothing else. Read off the footage by hand, in seconds from the start of the clip.
0.00s
Takeaway
0.52s
Top of backswing
0.78s
Impact
Source footage: 2022 The Open Championship, 17th. Raw marks: takeaway 12.06s, top 12.581s, impact 12.835s.
The shot
Cameron Smith, 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews: the 150th Open, won with a Sunday charge of birdies on the Old Course. This stroke on the famous Road Hole 17th in the final round shows the smooth, quiet putting tempo that carried him to the Claret Jug: a soft 2.05:1 over 0.78 seconds.
How this compares to “3 to 1”
The rule of thumb says a tour backswing takes three times as long as the downswing. This one is 2.05:1, which is quicker through the backswing than that. Across the whole library the spread is wide enough that 3:1 is best read as an average of very different swings rather than a target any one player hits.
More hand-timed swings
Swing to it, don't just read it.
Elite Tempo plays this 2.05:1 as beats you can swing along to, then times your own swing the same way so you can see how close you got.